The ancient city of Tepe-Kermen

Tepe-Kermen is a cave town located to the south-west of Bakhchisarai, archaeological monument of the 6-th-14th centuries ( since 1947). Judging by the name (Tepe-Kermen means hill fortress, fortress on a hill), a fortified medieval town existed here. Currently it has up to 250 caves, having 6 or 7 tiers and cut on mountain slopes and mountain top. Among them are German Goths Early Christian church, remains of a big winemaker’s farmstead , numerous bone-keepers. Tepe-Kermen was not just a military castle, but also a certain factory to prepare for Doomsday, something like Capuchin monasteries in Italy. Graves cut into rock were just temporary shelters for the deceased. Later on the bones were removed, washed in wine , put into a bag and laid together with hundreds of others. Tepe-Kermen was one of the most inhabited Crimean monasteries in the 12th-14th centuries.